The Japanese-Americans who were moved to Cow Creek on December 10, 1942 were called by Death Valley's superintendent, "...the very pick of the West Coast...Their presence here has been of real value to the area as all the men, not necessarily employed in the operation of the Camp itself, voluntarily asked to be gien work to do without pay." The NPS was able to complete critical conservation and infrastructure work that would have been impossible to undertake with its measly wartime and, indeed, postwar budgets.